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Out of interest, the official villa RSS feed seems to be broken (hence the empty space on the right side of the screen go those using the desktop version of this site). As such, would there be any interest in seeing Xia's twitter fees in its place (not sure if that's possible but I can give it a go!)

I see Xia a a very intelligent man who is most definately on the up in financial terms. He is clearly not short of a few quid and i can see his business empire growing massively over the coming years, especially having now courted favour with the Chinese Government by getting involved in building the global football connections as requested by the Government there.

If the Villa brand is grown hand in hand with this then it really does mean that regardless of his personal wealth, whatever that may be, Villa could indeed be a very wealthy club in the future... At least that's how i'm reading it. The great thing is that unike having a sugar daddy owner who just hands over money, if the Villa brand is organically grown Worldwide this also means we will automatically get around FFP etc.

@The Utterer wrote:I see Xia a a very intelligent man who is most definately on the up in financial terms. He is clearly not short of a few quid and i can see his business empire growing massively over the coming years, especially having now courted favour with the Chinese Government by getting involved in building the global football connections as requested by the Government there.

If the Villa brand is grown hand in hand with this then it really does mean that regardless of his personal wealth, whatever that may be, Villa could indeed be a very wealthy club in the future... At least that's how i'm reading it. The great thing is that unike having a sugar daddy owner who just hands over money, if the Villa brand is organically grown Worldwide this also means we will automatically get around FFP etc.

I agree, I might be completely wrong but Xia seems to have business acumen, whereas Lerner didnt and the very fact is Xia seems to have many more connections around the world than Lerner, this may aid Villa in becoming globally recognised.

@Trotters wrote:Out of interest, the official villa RSS feed seems to be broken (hence the empty space on the right side of the screen go those using the desktop version of this site). As such, would there be any interest in seeing Xia's twitter fees in its place (not sure if that's possible but I can give it a go!)

Aston Villa is opening its first football academy outside England in India.

This follows discussions held with the Minister of Sport Vijay Goel and the Minister of Education Prakesh Javedekar.

Villa is to be appointed as advisor on football as the sport forms part of the national curriculum for Indian state schools.

India’s ambition is to be as successful at football as cricket and ultimately host the World Cup by building from grassroots.

Villa’s academy will be located in New Delhi on property provided by the Municipal Council, including a 3G pitch and offices, changing rooms, gym, classrooms and other amenities.

The academy will train coaches to work in the state schools and will coach kids from the age of five upwards.

Dr Tony Xia, Aston Villa chairman, made the announcement at a press conference today at the Taj Hotel in New Delhi following five days of meetings.

Villa also plans to tie-up with a Club playing in the Indian Football Super League.

The chairman revealed he hoped to find talented Indian footballers to attend the club’s Bodymoor Heath academy and eventually progress to play in Villa’s first team.

Dr Tony said: “Aston Villa Football Club plans to expand globally and India is one of the countries where we not only want to have an Indian Super League club but also open football academies all over India.

“Aston Villa has one of the best football academies in the world and has fans all over the world and some of our famous supporters include David Cameron, Prince William and Tom Hanks.

“Using our network we also want to help promote the U17 FIFA World Cup being held in India next year and make it a big sports celebration.” '

Well he isn't exactly hanging around is he! The Indian Super League already has a handful of good players, alongside some truly shocking ones, but with the Marquee signing system etc it is easy to grab attention over there.

Wouldn't really expect much from it for a few years but a decent place to hang your hat early.

@Villa_Dan wrote:Well he isn't exactly hanging around is he! The Indian Super League already has a handful of good players, alongside some truly shocking ones, but with the Marquee signing system etc it is easy to grab attention over there.

Wouldn't really expect much from it for a few years but a decent place to hang your hat early.

Fair play to him.

He might not have the wealth we hoped for - but he seems to be leaving no stone unturned to promote us and make us a global super club. Will it work ? - not sure - but its great to have someone at the helm who cares and tries things.

It would be far more impressive if the Dr achieves all his goals and makes us a super brand with limited wealth and just plain old talent then if we were sold to someone near the top of the forbes richlist.

@4BetLite wrote:It would be far more impressive if the Dr achieves all his goals and makes us a super brand with limited wealth and just plain old talent then if we were sold to someone near the top of the forbes richlist.

I couldn't agree more. It's better to work for your cash thn be handed it. It has much more value. It'll be interesting to see how many clubs now try to follow him, but if he has the schools lined up already, he may be building some effective barriers to the growth of others already.

@4BetLite wrote:It would be far more impressive if the Dr achieves all his goals and makes us a super brand with limited wealth and just plain old talent then if we were sold to someone near the top of the forbes richlist.

I couldn't agree more. It's better to work for your cash thn be handed it. It has much more value. It'll be interesting to see how many clubs now try to follow him, but if he has the schools lined up already, he may be building some effective barriers to the growth of others already.

What is also interesting is that here we have someone who lives on another continent and therefore sees the world in a different way. It's not surprising that he will have different ideas to those Review of the Liver Functions/ Events Database July 2016erated at most clubs. Most other investors employ UK/ Western people in the key jobs and let them get on with it, thus retaining their UK/ Western ways of working and thinking. This different thinking will probably continue to add some very different ways to grow the business. With Keith Wynnes experience linked in, the development of the club is likely to remain very different to that of others.

@4BetLite wrote:It would be far more impressive if the Dr achieves all his goals and makes us a super brand with limited wealth and just plain old talent then if we were sold to someone near the top of the forbes richlist.

I couldn't agree more. It's better to work for your cash thn be handed it. It has much more value. It'll be interesting to see how many clubs now try to follow him, but if he has the schools lined up already, he may be building some effective barriers to the growth of others already.

What is also interesting is that here we have someone who lives on another continent and therefore sees the world in a different way. It's not surprising that he will have different ideas to those Review of the Liver Functions/ Events Database July 2016erated at most clubs. Most other investors employ UK/ Western people in the key jobs and let them get on with it, thus retaining their UK/ Western ways of working and thinking. This different thinking will probably continue to add some very different ways to grow the business. With Keith Wynnes experience linked in, the development of the club is likely to remain very different to that of others.

I think others may let us run with it to see if it adds value or not, however, it will take some time to see results and by then we will be so far ahead of the game we won't be catchable.

The proof is obviously in the pudding with the new owner though but I for one think progress is being made in all areas, strengthening the playing side though, was always going to be difficult because of the state the club was in, moving out slackers on ridiculous contracts etc.

Setting up an academy India isn't going to cost very much, its very little investment and if it ever produces even a second rate player that can be sold on it will have paid for itself easily, nothing to have wank about, but its certainly encouraging to see.

Seems a pretty big deal to me, we're basically going to be part of the Indian state school national curriculum. At the moment only a small part, but press release does say that we hope to open more academies across the country. Be interesting to see what happens with linking up with an Indian team, I imagine that can't be far away.

Also it speaks of Xia's connections to able to get himself in a position to set this thing up.

Just a bit surprised that this didn't happen in China itself first. Maybe that's still to come.

@Synopsis wrote:Setting up an academy India isn't going to cost very much, its very little investment and if it ever produces even a second rate player that can be sold on it will have paid for itself easily, nothing to have wank about, but its certainly encouraging to see.

Xia is trying to convert the whole world into supporting the Villa and its all ground work, the more merchandise we shift worldwide the better.

@Trotters wrote:Out of interest, the official villa RSS feed seems to be broken (hence the empty space on the right side of the screen go those using the desktop version of this site). As such, would there be any interest in seeing Xia's twitter fees in its place (not sure if that's possible but I can give it a go!)

Yep, i think that would be a good addition if you can do it!

Done! For those viewing the desktop version of the site, Xia's tweets should be appearing in the very right column.

@Synopsis wrote:Setting up an academy India isn't going to cost very much, its very little investment and if it ever produces even a second rate player that can be sold on it will have paid for itself easily, nothing to have wank about, but its certainly encouraging to see.

Xia is trying to convert the whole world into supporting the Villa and its all ground work, the more merchandise we shift worldwide the better.

This is the big thing for me - a worldwide fan base would be hugely significant in terms of sponsorship & merchandise. If we're a recognised club in both India & China then that's a serious following.

@deadbuzzardalive wrote:Just a bit surprised that this didn't happen in China itself first. Maybe that's still to come.

I'm over here in Hong Kong and, from what I've seen, the Chinese Super League is a pretty mature market already. I've been over to Guangzhou to visit the wife's mainland family and saw Evergrande with her cousin (or some other male relative roughly her age... family is quite complex here). The crowds are getting bigger, especially Evergrande and one of the Beijing teams and the teams are all owned by huge companies (SIPG, Evergrande Taobao, Suning etc.), who may not be household names around the world but are big deals here.

I reckon his main ambition is to use Villa and his future experience of European football (hopefully) as leverage to take over an existing team and tie it in to the worldwide Villa brand. I honestly don't think he's in a position to make an impact in Chinese football at the highest level at the moment but in 5-10 years, who knows!